Moving On
by You'llRememberMe
Summary: "It was out of the blue, like it always was. No warning, no chance for protests. It just happened, like it always had. No one saw it coming, and no one could have predicted it." One-Shot.


_**A/N: So, a friend of mine recently decided to return to their home town, which is in a whole other country and an entirely different hemisphere, and even though I didn't know her all that well, I'm going to miss her. And that put me in a melancholy/writing kind of mood.**_

_**Honestly, I have no idea what this is really. It just came out of my head and onto the computer. Make of it what you will.**_

_**And so, this story is me apologizing for not updating my other stories and also a kind of goodbye to my friend. This one's for you!**_

_**ENJOY!**_

_**OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO**_

It was out of the blue, like it always was. No warning, no chance for protests. It just happened, like it always had. No one saw it coming, and no one could have predicted it. Except for the few people that could.

Burton Guster had known Shawn for over twenty years. That kind of friendship is one that is everlasting. Gus knew things about Shawn that Gus sometimes doubted his friend even knew about himself. Then again, you could never really tell when it came to Shawn. Still, Gus recognized the signs. He'd seen them time and time again. Yet, before now, he had never tried to do anything to stop him. He never did. Not even when he saw it coming in advance.

In all honesty, Gus hadn't truly believed Shawn would do something like this again. He'd thought his friend had gotten over that. He'd thought it was a phase that Shawn would eventually grow out of, and Gus had truly believed that for the last five years. For once, in all his thirty-odd years, Shawn had something anchoring him to Santa Barbara. Gus hadn't thought there was any possibility that Shawn might just up and go again, like he used to.

He was wrong.

Just an hour ago, Shawn had called Gus from some random gas station to tell him he was leaving. Gus had sputtered disbelievingly for a moment, but he'd heard the truth in his friend's voice, had felt the tension between them even over the phone. It was then that Gus knew there was no changing his friend's mind. So he let him go. He said goodbye yet again to his best friend and let him take off down some nameless highway, not knowing when, or even if, he would see him again. It was something Gus had gotten quite good at over the years, even if he was still reeling from the shock of it, because if there's one thing Burton Guster knew about Shawn Spencer it was that there was no changing his mind once the decision is made.

An hour after that fateful phone call, Gus was still trying to make sense of things. He couldn't understand why Shawn would just leave. Sure, he had an irrational need to be free and unconfined, but things had been going so well! He had Psych, he was on speaking terms with his father again, and for God's sake he _finally _had Juliet!

The thought struck him like a lightning bolt. _Juliet. _How the hell was he supposed to tell her that her boyfriend, almost her _fiance_, left her? How would he explain that to her? Was there any possible way to even _attempt _to try to explain that?

And then there was Shawn's father, who wasn't too keen on any of Shawn's past "road trips". Though, at least Gus was familiar with that conversation. He'd had the exact same one with Henry several times before, and vice versa. Over the years, the two had developed a kind of connection, though not quite a bond. Gus would never, ever even consider calling what he shared with Henry a bond. No, they both just shared a disappointment, a feeling of abandonment. Gus sometimes wondered if Henry felt like as much of a failure as he did, because Gus always felt a bit guilty after Shawn left, as if it were his fault.

Were they not good enough to keep Shawn's attention? Or was it the other way around? Did Shawn feel like he was undeserving of people the likes of Juliet O'Hara? Gus didn't know, wouldn't _ever _know, and he was content with that. As long as Shawn eventually returned, like he always did. Eventually.

Gus gave Shawn a week, tops. There was no way he'd be able to resist the lure of a good, mysterious crime, Gus reasoned. It just wasn't like him.

Sadly, Gus was wrong yet again.

As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, there was no sign of psychic detective Shawn Spencer. Gus didn't even have anyone calling to tell him that his credit card had been stolen; it seemed as if Shawn had cut off all ties, this time for good.

Gus was upset for a while, in the beginning, but began to move on. And though he hadn't heard from Shawn in three months, he still kept Psych open, in hopes that his friend would return. There would always be a place in his heart reserved for Shawn and hope of his swift return.

Juliet was near inconsolable, even as more and more time began to pass. At first, she'd just been angry, but as the weeks passed and she realized that Shawn might not return, she'd become deeply saddened. As the days went by, she just became more withdrawn. Gus was sure that Juliet was convinced that it was her fault Shawn left, that if she'd only been a better girlfriend he wouldn't have taken off. Gus didn't have the heart to tell her that Shawn would have done it no matter what, that it was just who he was.

Frankly, Lassiter seemed overjoyed upon receiving the news. But then the bitter feeling of discontent that had spread through Gus and Juliet began to taint him as well. He was still glad that Shawn was out of his hair, but the sight of his partner so obviously in pain seemed to sober him. Now, all he could think about was finding Shawn and proceeding to shoot him, preferably multiple times in a row.

And then there was Henry, the man who knew Shawn best of all, but had still been unable to see the restlessness so close to the surface, ready to spill over at any moment. Henry wasn't like the others though; he didn't cry about Shawn's departure as one would mourn a dead relative. He knew exactly what to do with himself. He knew he had to keep himself busy, to keep from lingering over past resentment and bitter arguments. Focusing on it would just make it harder to move on, and Henry knew that he had to do just that: move on. There was no better consequence for Shawn when he returned (which Henry was certain he would do) than for everyone to have moved on without him.

And so more time passed, adding another two weeks onto three already horrid months. They all went on with their daily lives, and the hurt they felt over Shawn leaving them began to fade. They were beginning to feel good again, like themselves.

They moved on.

_**OOOOOOoooooOOOOOO**_

_**Blame...someone... for this if you don't like it. I just needed to write something, and this is what came of it.**_

_**Let me know what you thought!**_


End file.
